One of the episodes has Jack ordering Kenneth to cut himself off from Tracy, in order to lure Tracy back to work. In the scene where this is set up, Kenneth makes a reference to his step-father, Ron, and then, answering the phone, assumes the identity of "Cranston".

I do really need to get around to watching 30 ROCK, now that I finally finished watching all 7 seasons of PARKS&REC over the course of a year. I didn't realize that Cranston made an appearance - looking at a clip online, I see by his haircut that he filmed it between seasons of BREAKING BAD. He might be one of the only actors that excels at both comedy and drama equally.

Helen Mirren makes an uncredied appearance in a third season episode -- at least, she does according to the IMDb. I had assumed it was an impersonator -- which is given credibility by the fact that this appearance, a BFD by just about any measure, is not cited anywhere else. Including Dame Helen's own IMDb page!

Gene Roddenberry's TV movie/busted pilot, basically a reinterpretation of the ideas he spun into "Assignment: Earth" on STAR TREK TOS. This time a superintelligent android subs for a eugenically engineered human. Robert Foxworth and Mike Farrell acquit themselves nicely.

Enjoyed it overall. I do think they went too far in making the bad guy the good guy and vice versa. The character of the wife and performance coach is simultaneously the best and least believable part of the show. A group of fine performers slickly playing smart scripts. Still a little too "TV" for my much-battered-by-TV sensibilities, but enjoyable overall. I'm looking forward to the release of season two.

NASHVILLE

Following Connie Britton from FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS to her next gig, I enjoyed the earlier episodes far more than the later ones. The entire thing becomes so soap-operatic, I expected my television to start chugging from side-to-side like an overloaded washing machine. Good performances throughout for the most part and I did like most of the music. Hayden Panettiere is a great deal of fun as the bitchy teen-diva looking to stretch her wings artistically while she continues to treat everyone around her as disposable. I might pick up the next season, but I don't know. The story format pattern of rise-fall-redemption kept happening so often the characters began commenting on how difficult to believe it was all becoming. That's never a good sign. Really, the whole thing was so damned fake and so earnest all the while about itself that a second helping seems as if it would be doubly hard to swallow.

Finally getting into season 2 of BATMAN on Blu-Ray. Right from the start, you can see the increasingly wacky gags they used to try and boost ratings. And Art Carney as the Archer was not the best way to kick the season off.

I, SPY continues to surprise even if the racism gets a bit harrowing at times.

Also watched DOCTOR WHO: THE NEXT DOCTOR with David Tennant and David Morrissey. There's just something wonderfully enjoyable and life-affirming about Tennant's performances as the Doctor. As much as I like the deftness of Matt Smith's physical comedy and sudden shifts into the serious, Tennant's Doctor is still my favorite by a wide margin.

After this first hit HBO, close to 25 years now (in the summer of '92), I distinctly remember it being the first television comedy that would literally make me scream & cry with laughter with every single episode. I'd certainly laughed at other sitcoms, and other HBO comedies, but this was a whole other level for me (I was only in my 20's at the time).

Haven't really revisited it in full since it went off the air, and my local Costco had the entire series on the cheap a few months back... I picked it up right-quick, but only today finally gave it a spin...

From the first episode: Glorious. Already laughing out loud all over again, and also picking up on some subtleties and/or gags that I'm sure escaped me in my relatively naive & inexperienced youth.

Wow. It does a genius job of what it does. First trick: tell multiple stories of which you cannot tell which is the more important or compelling... even as they unfold before your eyes. Second trick: cast everyone perfectly! Third trick: have insanely great supporting characters. To wit., Syrio Forel, Bronn, Septa Mordane, etc.

TV movie follow-up to THE THICK OF IT, a British black comedy about the ins and outs of politics in England. Created and produced by Armando Iannucci, who had the same jobs on VEEP. The most (unintentially) amusing aspect of this film is seeing all the soon-to-be VEEP alumni in earlier but not dissimilar roles. Almost like watching a casting call.

This series is, of course, the reason I cannot buy Peter Capaldi on DOCTOR WHO. The foul-mouthed character he plays here is too branded into my brain.